The first year on Snapchat for PinkNews: What we’ve learned and what we’ve earned
A year ago today, PinkNews launched on Snapchat Discover- what happened next has been a year of extraordinary growth that positions us well to build a truly scaled-up global media company.
In a recent Digiday Podcast, I said that when we launched, we expected that PinkNews on Snapchat Discover would grow to four or five million monthly unique users. While this would have been a good addition to our existing web audience (of about the same size), it would have been significant but not earth-shattering. What actually happened was that within a few months, particularly when we moved to daily publishing last December, our Snapchat Discover monthly audience grew to between 20–28 million monthly unique users with millions more watching our Snapchat Shows or content on our other channels.
Why has PinkNews on Snapchat worked?
Over the past few years, attitudes towards sexuality and gender identity have evolved rapidly, particularly among young people. A YouGov poll back in 2015 found that 49% of under 24s defined their sexuality as not completely straight. While only a small percentage said that they are exclusively gay, it was clear that many young people reject the old heteronormative binary labels. This should have been a huge opportunity for PinkNews to grow among this age range, the problem for us was that these young people did not live on the platform where we were strongest at the time, Facebook. They were on Snapchat.
It was this that caused us to reach out to Snap about joining Discover and after a few years of discussions and months of piloting, we went live on 25 July last year.
On Snapchat, we’ve been able to reach this golden age range at scale- 75% of those who consume PinkNews content are GenZs, firmly under 25. Having this young audience has caused our team led by Ellen Stewart and Robert Greene to reimagine how we tell stories.
Firstly, we assume no prior knowledge of the LGBT+ rights movement or its history. Secondly, our editions are filled with real people telling their stories and discussing issues that our users will be familiar with. Thirdly, when we do mention a celebrity, they will be people who are well known among our audience, I sometimes feel my age when I have to ask one of the team who someone is. Think James Charles over Sir Elton John.
The sheer volume of data also helps inform our decisions. The fact that billions of our Snaps have been viewed since we launched doesn’t harm either. It means that we can look carefully at what has worked, and do more of it, and more importantly what hasn’t worked, and why that might be.
Has being on Snapchat made money?
The short answer is yes, a lot. From a revenue perspective, overall monthly revenue for PinkNews is around 3x where we were this time last year. Part of this is due specifically to the revenue we earn on Snapchat from selling advertising and services, but another important part is that Snapchat has informed how we tell stories, produce content and sell brand partnerships across all of our other platforms. Being on Snapchat forced us to hire our own team of animators, and really invest in our original video production, which is paying dividends from revenue elsewhere, particularly on Twitter and Instagram.
We’ve also recently begun to sell products direct to our Snapchat users- the first important step for PinkNews in entering the DTC (Direct to Consumer) commerce market. Our initial test products have included pin badges and rainbow bamboo sunglasses. Next to come are PinkNews designed clothing starting with T-shirts.
Sales are still new enough for me to want to receive a notification each time someone makes a purchase. There is something thrilling about a user who visited PinkNews on Snapchat to learn the latest about James Charles, deciding to swipe up and buy a pair of $40 sunglasses from us on the spur of the moment.
What is Snap like to work with?
Snap is a great partner because our interests are aligned. If we make money on Snapchat, so do they. If we create great engaging content, that helps us grow an audience, but it also helps Snap keep its users on its platform for longer. On platforms like Facebook, we have found ourselves (along with most publishers) in conflict with the platform. I can’t imagine another partner who we would co-host a Pride party with, as we did with Snap in New York recently.
Another point to mention is that the team are really nice. That is a hard attribute to try to quantify but they are genuinely nice. When I came back from the LA Partner Summit, nice was probably the word that I used most when talking about Snap staff members who I met.
What have been my favourite moments on our Snapchat journey?
While the days where we have huge viral editions and make lots of money are great, as is winning awards (we’ve won a Digiday and a Drum award for our Snapchat) it’s hearing from real users that really makes me happy. Over the past year, a number of readers have tracked me down and sent lovely letters or emails explaining what finding this content on their smartphone means to them. If they live in a rural area particularly, PinkNews on Snapchat is the only real way they have to connect to their LGBT+ family.
Now, our users can send us their thoughts over Snapchat, which we might publish on PinkNews Stories. Or they can try out one of our lenses and post photos or videos onto their own Snapchat Story or onto the public stories. Since we launched these lenses a few weeks ago, they’ve been accessed hundreds of thousands of times.
Recently, when I’m feeling a bit stressed, I take a look at some of the really inspiring videos posted by our users trying out the lenses. It sometimes chokes me when they start their Snap with “Hey PinkNews”, like we’re a close friend. It’s important to remember although we’ve only been on Snapchat for a year, for a 14-year-old today, that year is probably the most important year they’ve ever had. It’s the year where they were starting to form and understand their own identity and I’m so proud that we’ve been there as they’ve taken that journey.
What is next for PinkNews?
We’re really excited about the continued opportunities to grow and expand on Snapchat. We’ve recently launched a dedicated edition for India, where homosexuality was only decriminalised less than a year ago. We have a new animation show coming soon and lots of other new shows in the pipeline.
This week also marks the 14th anniversary of the founding of PinkNews, so as we start our 15th year, this is a period of growth and expansion across the board. We’re well into the development cycle for a new advocacy platform, which has been funded by Google and we’ve also recently launched a new design of our main website.
We’re also in the exploratory stages of a venture round. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to build PinkNews to this scale without having to raise money but the time seems right to raise to fund an even faster growth rate.
